1. Field of the Invention
The disclosures herein generally relate to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are image forming apparatuses that are configured to control the gradation (e.g., intensity degree of colors) of an image to be formed in order to improve image quality. For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2011-81023 (Patent Document 1) discloses an image forming apparatus that forms a calibration pattern (area gradation pattern) on the surface of a transfer medium (e.g., intermediate transfer belt, photoconductor drum) and corrects the gradation of an image based on the pattern formed.
However, the transfer medium of an image forming apparatus may be prone to time degradation from continued use. Thus, in order to improve the image quality of an image to be formed on the surface of a recording medium, gradation correction of an image should be performed based on an image (pattern) formed on the surface of a recording medium.
A technique for correcting the gradation of an image to be formed based on a pattern formed on the surface of a recording medium is not disclosed in the prior art.